Mark Ruffalo: Morgan Freeman is a blessing to me

NOW YOU SEE ME 2 Trailer # 3 (2016)

The magic and mystique of 2013s Now You See Me is back. Woody Harrelson and Mark Ruffalo return in their roles as part of a band of magicians bent on stealing from the rich to help the poor. While the first film focussed on a lot of big Vegas-style magic, Now You See Me2 will feature a wider variety of tricks.

The sequel follows the Four Horsemen when their scheme to expose corporate bad guys goes awry with a new nemesis showing up tech prodigy Walter Mabry, played by Daniel Radcliffe. Jesse Eisenberg returns as illusionist J Daniel Atlas, Dave Franco as street magician Jack Wilder and Morgan Freeman as Thaddeus Bradley, Ruffalo as Dylan Rhodes, while Lizzy Caplans Lula joins as the newest member of the group. Ruffalo talks about his experience, character and more. Excerpts from a transcript:

Q. Tell us how different the sequel is from the first part?

The movies have the same joie de vivre we have with each other in real life. This is a little bit grander than the first one. The payoff is a final, big magic trick that is mindblowing and really satisfying.

Q. What was your favourite part in the movie?

The best sequence in the movie is the card one where they are passing around the card trying to keep it away from the guards thats a really good secret. That was beautiful cinematic work!

Q. Can you tell us about your character and how it fits into the movie this time?

We know what hes up to this time, but it isnt going smoothly. Theyre trying to expose a tech upstart who has figured out how to put a backdoor on all kinds of encryption in order to steal information. The whole game is to expose this guy, but it quickly starts to go sideways. At the same time, Atlas is questioning my leadership and my credibility at the FBI is in question. I am in a bit of a crisis and for my character the journey is really to find himself, whatever that means.

Q. Tell us about your experience while shooting for Now You See Me 2.

It was a complete discovery and I dont think any of us were planning to do a second one; there was no talk of it. I jokingly, at one point when we were on the final part of the first movie, said maybe we could have a spinoff. But there was so much competition at the box office post our sequel, I dont think any of us thought it would do as well as it did. After it did so well, it was then we started talking about the second one. But it wasnt till I got the script that we talked about what the story was going to be. And then we had to work on that script a lot, Solomon, Jon Chu, Bobby Colin and the cast all of us together. In fact, we were all working on it even while we were shooting.

Q. Was it fun working with the cast again?

The group gets along really well and we had our first movie to really build the bond and I think we all really cared about it, we really wanted to make it work so there was a spirit of us all being part of it and collaborating. So theres a lot of improvisation with the horsemen, I mean theyre delicious, youll just love them in this movie!

Q. How was it to work with Morgan Freeman again?

Morgan and I had a lot of stuff to do together in the first film, and thus I go to spend a lot of time with him. He was really like a blessing to me. Hes one of those great actors I really look up to. He is in the true sense very kind and supportive. Honestly, I was really nervous about working with him but he eased things down for me.

Q. How is Dylans relationship with Thaddeus this time around?

This time youll see how the comfort zone between Dylan and Thaddeus increases, which gives Thaddeus all the power in the relationship and he uses that to exact his revenge on Dylan in the form of a humiliating comeuppance.

Q. Have your kids watched any of your movies? How do they react?

I remember the first time my son Keen saw me on TV, I was away and he was there with the nanny. He saw me and ran to the television set and started banging on the side of it, like, How is he? Papa! Papa! Come out, come out! It was really sweet and so literal for him. He literally thought I was in the TV! Most of the movies Ive done my kids cant watch yet, technically, but, yeah, the ones that they can, they have seen all of them.

Q. Despite your dedication to conservation, you still manage your acting career just fine. How do you juggle between the two?

Acting has sort of become my day job now, sadly. Its what I do to support all this other stuff. Like Why are we living in a modern society where we dont trust the water thats coming out of our tap? We shouldnt be in that position.

Q. How was it to work with Jon Chu?

What he does beautifully is choreography. The way he moves the camera is really specific, and really imaginative too! He reveals the story like a magic trick, peeling back layer after layer. Hes brought the franchise a really high-tech feeling to take it one step further.

Q. Could you spill out details on your upcoming movie Thor: Ragnarok?

Itll be an intergalactic buddy road movie with Banner and Thor. I think it will be smashing. Youll see a lot more Hulk and the Hulk gets Hulkier and bigger. (Smiles.)

Source: http://www.thestatesman.com/news/marquee/mark-ruffalo-morgan-freeman-is-a-blessing-to-me/147673.html